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Most who made up the media scrum around Mike Fisher yesterday had walked away when the Senators centre made it clear he wasn't ready to stop talking.

After answering questions about newcomer Cory Stillman and how excited he was to be playing with a fellow Peterborough product -- a guy who lives near his lakeside place in the summer and who was an instructor at a camp a young Michael attended many moons ago -- Fisher wanted to say a word about the departed.

"Can we talk about Patty and Corvs?" he started, referring to Patrick Eaves and Joe Corvo, who were traded Monday by GM Bryan Murray.

Sure, Mike.

"It's sad to see those guys go," said Fisher. "Patty was one of the nicest guys in hockey I've ever met. That's the tough part about hockey. Corvs is a good teammate, too.

"Patty was a really good friend of mine. I saw him before he left ... he was obviously disappointed, but what do you do?

"No matter what, the guy was always smiling. He was a fun guy to be around, for sure. I don't know if you could ever meet a nicer guy in hockey."

Eaves sat across the dressing room from Fisher. Corvo's stall was much closer, just three away. So what could No. 12 say about the defenceman, a guy who to the media usually appeared to be brooding, with no interest in talking?

Surely, he was a completely different individual around the boys, right?

"He was kind of quiet and reserved," said Fisher. "He kind of did his own thing. He had a great heart, but I didn't get to know him real well. He did a lot of good things for us."

Interesting that Fisher sat so close to Corvo and didn't really know him well. The yspent a season and three-quarters together.

Stillman now sits in the stall that Corvo occupied.

As "nice" of a guy Eaves was, it says here the Senators dressing room has been upgraded with Murray's first series of renovations.

STARTS AND STOPS: The grisly sight of Richard Zednik's blood gushing from his throat brought back chilling memories for young Sabres Clarke MacArthur, Daniel Paille, Michael Ryan and Patrick Kaleta yesterday. "Last year in Rochester one of our defencemen had his wrist slit by a skate," said MacArthur, the winger Olli Jokinen spun off before his skate slit Zednik's throat Sunday night. "The blood was shooting up five feet in the air." The player, Martin Tuma, was out of action for six months. A former Soo Greyhound, he is now back playing in his native Czech Republic. "The worst thing is seeing the guy's face, the panic," MacArther said. "He went sheet white." MacArthur was still bothered by the Zednik incident at yesterday's morning skate. "We were the next guys out after they cleaned the ice," he said. "It was terrible. You don't feel as sure out there after that." ... In the third minute, Cory Stillman drilled a slap shot as he flew down the wing. In the fourth minute, Mike Commodore went out of his way to lay a hit on big Sabres C Paul Gaustad. Never do we recall Patrick Eaves or Joe Corvo doing those things .... It was a sizzling Thomas Vanek shot that beat Ray Emery for the game's first goal, but it also may have hit the goalie had he not slid so far to his left.

BETWEEN PERIODS: Sabres defenceman Brian Campbell, who's an unrestricted free agent this summer, will soon strike it rich. Of his options, Campbell is unlikely to take the advice of his former coach, Brian Kilrea. "Killer told me 'quit your whining, go to camp in September and if you deserve a raise, you'll get it. If not, play anyway,' the former 67's star said through his laughter yesterday. "He said that's the way they used to do it in his day." .... Of course, nobody could be happier about the way Campbell has emerged as an NHL star than Kilrea and his assistant coach Bert O'Brien. The redheaded kid was one of their favourites ... Commodore had a great shift around the eighth minute mark of the second period. First he planted MacArthur into the boards. A few moments later, as the lone man back on a 3-on-1, he dropped to the ice and swung his stick behind his back to knock Jason Pominville's pass high into the end glass. And for the piece de resistance and move that coach John Paddock has pleaded for his defencemen to do more, Commodore knocked Pominville down with a crosscheck to the back of the head, just for thinking he could stand so close to Emery's crease. He didn't get a penalty for it, but Paddock wouldn't have minded if he did.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM...: If Chris Phillips is the Big Rig, as Rogers Sportsnet's Ian Mendes says, then Commodore is the Big Wig. Noticed just one fan wearing a red wig in a hairy homage to Ottawa's new No. 44. You can be sure there will a lot more .... Fisher played through a cold and the nagging groin/abdomen problem he's been dealing with this season. Asked how he felt after the morning skate, he cracked: "Like Chris Chelios ... 46." ... Paddock made a good call by putting out Commodore and Stillman to start the game, giving the fans a chance to welcome them in the introductions. That's something Jacques Martin would never think of or care about.